Interview with Darren Hanlon 24th February 2005

Darren Hanlon is an Australian singer-songwriter who has a number of connections with Billy Bragg. I saw him recently at a gig in Sydney and he agreed to have a chat. So, I gave him a call...

MW : This will appear on a Billy Bragg website so I guess we should start from the Billy angle - when did you first meet him ?

DH : I met him for the first time when The Simpletons supported him at the Enmore Theatre (in Sydney) which would have been around 96 or 97. It was a solo tour, I think.

MW : 96, I think - he was here for the Big Day Out.

DH : Right, yeah, yeah...he played all these new songs which later went on William Bloke.

MW : There's a bit of legend about Billy and The Simpletons that he described them as his favourite Australian band. How did that come about ?

DH : Well, I'm not sure if that is actual legend. It could be just a fable. The story I was told was that Danielle Atkinson, the Candle Records publicist was working for Cooking Vinyl in the UK. She met Billy there and gave him all The Simpleton's CDs that were out at that time, and then later on he recognised her and came running saying that he really enjoyed the CDs. Then we read somewhere in print that we were his favourites - he was wearing our t-shirt...we were just over the moon. So then we just hounded him until he let us play with him.

MW : So you were really pestering him ?

DH : I think our manager had asked him...in fact I think Chris Crouch, our manager, met him with Danielle. Oh God, I should get my fables right ! They met him at Glastonbury and Crouch said if he ever comes out The Simpletons would love to support, and he said "Yeah, sure" and it happened from there.

MW : Now you ended up getting a solo support on a couple of tours with Billy.

DH : Yeah. Now this is more of a hounding him story. I think the next time I saw Billy was when I was in England playing with Mick Thomas. He was still a bit of an enigma and a little bit scary for me...having grown up listening to him. We played at the Mean Fiddler in London and Billy came along. He stood underneath a light and he was the only person in the room you could actually see. That freaked me out. I was really quite nervous and when he came backstage we had a chat. Then later Billy had asked Michael to support him in Toronto and at the time I had just gone out on my own and released Early Days. I was touring America - it was the first tour I ever did even before Australia. The shows were quite small and no one knew who I was. They knew me as the guitarist from The Lucksmiths. So, I was going to meet Mick in Toronto and it was going to be a bit of cash to help fund the trip. Then I found Mick had pulled out and I had all my tickets booked and everything. Anyway, I rang up the venue and pretended I was my manager and said "Oh yeah, I got this kid and he's played with Billy before and he's in town and wondering if he can get on the bill". They were very non-commital and said "Oh, we'll see what happens". Anyway, I just turned up at the venue that night and they were like "Oh God, you actually came ! ....Well you can play for twenty minutes and we can't really pay you but here's a meal ticket". Then when I walked out on stage - it was probably still to this day one of the most amazing gigs I've ever played...I walked out on stage and I think most people thought I was Billy Bragg just for a few seconds. There was this rise of applause, then when I got into the spotlight there was this embarrasment and most of the claps just faded off....there was this "Isn't he too short to be Billy Bragg ?". So I said "I'm not really Billy, I'm Darren from Australia" and played a few songs. The response was just amazing and then I got attacked by Canadians for the next day. People would just come up and say "I saw you at the gig last night - it was great !". Then after the promoter said "Ah ! That was really good ! I'll give you some more money - I feel bad for not paying you....and if you're ever back in Toronto give me a call !". Do you want to hear more stories ? I have more from that night.

MW : Yeah.

DH : I went out and I ended up with these teachers that had travelled to see Billy's gig and were staying in a hotel. I'd walked into a bar to use the phone to call the friends I was staying with...and these teachers just kidnapped me ! They got me really drunk and wouldn't let me pay for anything. eventually I got to the phone and caught a cab. I was halfway across Toronto and realised I'd left my wallet sitting on the phone with all the gig money ! So I told the cab driver to turn around and we went back. The bar was shut but I knocked on the window and they let me in. I went downstairs and there's my wallet still sitting there on the pay phone.

MW : That was lucky.

DH : It was lucky...but then I walked upstairs and the cab's gone with all my gear - my bag and my guitar. I was like "What is happening ?". I was way too drunk to be carrying all that gear anyway. Suddenly the cab pulls up and when I get in the dribver starts yelling at me "You should never leave all your stuff in a cab. I just wanted to teach you a lesson !". Isn't that bizarre ? This all happened in my one night in Toronto !

MW : Am I right that the next time you went to Toronto, at the end of last year, you were struck down with food poisoning ?

DH : It was the first gig I've ever missed in 10 or so years. I'd never missed a gig by being sick and I tried my best to do it because I knew people had been emailing Candle Records since I'd played that gig with Billy Bragg, trying to get me back there.

MW : So there's a hardcore Darren Hanlon audience there ?

DH : Well, small but appreciative. And well travelled. Some people had travelled...one carload had travelled 7 hours to be there. I tried to do the gig but in the end I was unconcious.

MW : What had struck you down ?

DH : Salmon. Sushi in London, Ontario - and it said "the best sushi in town" !

MW : So when will you be back in Toronto ?

DH : I will definitely go back soon. Next time I'm in America I'll make the trip up there. To do it properly...and apologise. I should probably do a free gig, shouldn't I ? I really should have got the names of everyone there and just gone to their houses. At least they wouldn't have to drive so far. The small number of fans I have there...they're so great. I woke up from unconciousness in a girl's house - who it turns out is a massive Billy Bragg fan...

MW : Would that be Erin ?

DH : Erin. That's right. She did look after me for a couple of days. She ended up giving me an iPod which was way generous. It was an old one. A dinosaur one. In fact people have stopped me on the steet just wanting to get a look at the old iPod. It's like an antique !

MW : At the end of last year you released...would you say it was your second or your third album ? Little Chills.

DH : Because this interview is on a Billy Bragg website...he gives me licence to say it's my third album because the first of his, Life's A Riot, that was only 7 or 8 tracks ? But my first is still considered an EP in Australian circles. So I guess it's really my second album.

MW : Recently you've been in North America supporting Magnetic Fields and promoting Little Chills and in the past month playing at the Candle Records 10th Birthday gigs in Australia. So, what's next - back in the studio or back on the road ?

DH : Back on the road. We're still going to try and milk Little Chills for a bit more. I'm writing at the moment so I just want to get prepared for another release. Coming up I've got four dates with the Violent Femmes in Australia one of which is in Darwin which is fantastic as I've never actually been there. Then in May we're doing a very comprehensive tour of Australia again. we've just released the single "I wish that I was beautiful for you" which is probably the most soppy song ever to be released as a single. Also trying to do a few video clips...and then hopefully back to America as soon as that's finished.

MW : So that will keep you busy until when ?

DH : Till June. I've got the whole of April off so I hope to spend a whole solid month writing.

MW : I was wondering if you'd like to play festivals ?

DH : It's very hard without a label. Even in Australia it's impossible to get on anything like the Big Day Out. Even though we can get big crowds everywhere it's really been built up from touring a lot. I am playing at the Cockatoo Island Festival at Easter - I can't wait to play on the island where Captain Thunderbolt was held prisoner !

MW : That's another legend.

DH : Yeah, another fable. For someone who's on an independant label it's really hard to get to those big events....but judging from that Billy Bragg gig and the Magnetic Fields gigs I'm selling more CDs from just playing...and since we came back from that Magnetic Fields tour we are selling a lot more over the internet. So I think it's just getting out there and working as hard as you can. Getting your name out there.

MW : I've also heard you're planning some kind of tribute album.

DH : That's right. For Shane Gelagin who was lead singer of The Simpletons. I'm in the process of approaching songs to record for that and I'm hoping that maybe down the track Billy might record something for that because he did know all of our songs. The hardest thing is finding people who've actually heard of The Simpletons. We never really got out of Australia, the internet was just starting and it was really hard on a small label to get outside of Australia. We did have aspirations of travelling a lot but it didn't quite happen. I'm approaching acts who I think will do a good job on a recording rather than people who may have known him. I think one thing with The Simpletons is that the sound has dated quite a bit, for my ears anyway, and sometimes production let the songs down.Because for me Shane is probably the best songwriter as far as originality goes and just sheer talent that he didn't really know he had.

MW : I presume your contribution would have to be "Danielle" or "2480" ?

DH : (laughs) No, I think those two I have to give a rest ! I'm planning on a song called "Emmy & Jean" that was never released on anything. It's easily one of the best songs he's ever written. It's on a demo. I've got this beautifully recorded CD from when Shane was working on the songs for "Tandem" which was the album we sold the most of. He went into SBS with a friend of ours and a really expensive microphone...and knuckled out these songs....battered a few songs into shape. One of them was "Emmy & Jean" and for some reason it never made it onto the album. I've got the whole song there recorded by him. Maybe I should just put his version on the album because it is beautiful.

MW : Looking further ahead, would you hope to have your own new album out by the end of this year.

DH : I'm hoping, yeah. I'm definitely not prolific. I tend to write if I really lock myself away. What I do is I take a notebook away when I'm travelling and jot it all down...but then I really have to be locked in a room because I'm addicted to DVDs, playing pinball and doing crosswords. I just made a rule to myself last week that I'm not playing anymore pinball. I'm distracted by everything !

MW : You don't write songs and then put them away until there's enough for an album ?

DH : Up until now I've had a whole collection just sitting there. Especially for Early Days. During Early Days half of Hello Stranger was already written. There's even old songs from that time that'll probably never get recorded...you just get sick of them so easily.

MW : You could save them for the box set when you're sixty.

DH : Hopefully I'll be well into my film career by then !

MW : Film career ? When's that starting ?

DH : Oh, I reckon forty five. When I give up music and just start acting.

MW : How about picking up some of these roles Russell Crowe's turning down ?

DH : Well, I'm just hoping that one day there'll be a movie where Russell Crowe needs a younger brother. Maybe Gladiator had a child ? I could bulk up for that. I can't ride a Harley or fight as well as him...and I definitely can't act as well..

MW : Darren, thanks for your time and hopefully we'll meet on your Australian tour coming up in May.

DH : Thanks mate !

You can find out much more about Darren Hanlon at the Candle Records website

Mark Warner, Braggtopia!